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To: Valueman who wrote (4887)	11/19/1998 2:18:00 PM
From: Geoff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Bloomberg article on the FCC's approving Skybridge: quote.bloomberg.com

To: Valueman who wrote (4887)	11/23/1998 9:24:00 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

11/23/1998 Article:119509 SkyBridge seen on track for start-up in 2001 The proposed 80-satellite SkyBridge low Earth orbit system remains on track, with satellite construction set to start at the beginning of 1999, according to the head of SkyBridge LP. Pascale Sourisse, Skybridge's president and chief executive officer, told reporters in Washington Friday that the system remains on schedule to begin operation in 2001 with a partial constellation of 40 satellites. Signing of service provider agreements is expected to begin in 1999. About four satellites will be built per month, and SkyBridge is talking with "several" launch service providers. Sourisse said 10-12 launches would be needed to get the constellation in orbit. Launches are set to begin in early 2001. Sourisse declined to be specific on financing, but she said SkyBridge was on its way to reaching the $4.2 billion initial investment figure, and that "everyone involved has contracts that SkyBridge has been able to back." SkyBridge originally planned a constellation of 64 satellites, but increased that to 80, citing market studies that indicate there will be about 400 million broadband satellite users worldwide by 2005 (DAILY, June 10). Sourisse said SkyBridge is envisioned as a "low risk, low cost" system that will be a complement to terrestrial networks. "This is not a solution to compete with existing systems," she said. "But it will be made available to telecommunications operators. We will never market services to end users. That will be done by operators in every country." Sourisse said the use of Ku-band and transparent satellites would keep costs at 3 cents per megabyte, or about 4 cents for a three-minute call at 64 kilobytes per second. Representatives from SkyBridge's eight main partners - Alcatel, CNES, Com Dev International, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Sharp Corp., SRIW, Spar Aerospace Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. - were in Washington, and each cited the strength of the SkyBridge plan as their reason for participating. Dave Massoti, president of Spar Aerospace Systems, called the SkyBridge concept "elegantly simple" and said one of the attractive features about partnering was the low technical risk. "It's complementary to existing infrastructures," he said. "The market is growing and there are holes that need to be filled." Copyright 1998 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.